Your 2026 Garden

[Debbie292d]

I do no less than 2" above the seedling for 14 hours a day for light. If yellow leaves are present have you fed them any diluted fertilizer ? I use fish emulsion. Its smells horrendous, but really seems to keep my seedlings happy. Or they may be getting overwatered. What type of soil did you use to plant them them in?

They're in Miracle Grow potting soil. The cherry tomato is doing wonderful. I'll spray them with my kelp and see if that helps. I haven't fertilized them, so next time I water, I'll make up a weak batch.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

I was wondering about that, the viability of keeping seeds for many years I presume? We've planted the leftover seeds from the year or two prior and just double plant, like instead of two or three kernels of corn, we'd put in five or six. Easy to prune back later.

Ours we just keep in the basement where it's cooler. I put a huge bag of perennial flower seeds I could only use half of last year in the freezer. Not sure if those will be any good this year, but we'll see!

Now for a seed hoarder, (kidding) I could understand wanting to get the perfect climate to keep them in, to keep them healthy. I am absolutely no help as you just heard what haphazard way I treat ours lol.

Seed hoarding is half the reason I frequent a seed library. Anything more than a year or two old can be donated and won’t be ‘wasted.’ Because I will do my best to save every single seed that can possibly be saved, but I will never have the space plant them all, so someone might as well benefit!

 

[akroberts1085]

I have potatoes growing but right now that's it

 

[FrostRanger]

I have cabbage, broccoli, celery, greens, an absolute boatload of potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers and Japanese eggplant going rn and still need to get my squash and zucchini in the ground and I still need to buy Carolina reaper and Thai chili plants, might throw in a few other fun varieties too and in my herb garden I have added dill and basil and want to get another lemongrass plant and another rosemary plant

 

[Sally PB]

One habanero and one jalapeno came up today!

 

[jxp]

For seed starting this year, I had a leftover bag of miracle grow potting mix that I screened through half inch hardware cloth and a second screening through an old colander. To that I added an equal portion of coir and a half portion of pearlite.

After the sprouts were ready to pot up, I added to the basic mix some composted manure, mushroom compost, a little more pearlite, some sand, a bit of soil from the garden (so they could get introduced to their future environment), and a little fertilizer that has mycorrhizal fungi to encourage good root development. I think they're doing okay.

 

[jxp]

My 2026 garden plans.

The 4 raised beds this year will be:

1. tomatoes and basil
2. peppers and marigold
3. hubbard squash, borage, and nasturtium
4. and for the shady one I'll be planting successions of lettuce, spinach, radicchio, and beets

Onions and garlic will be scattered amongst all 4 beds.

DS has claimed one of my herb beds for his new banana tree so I may be planting catmint to fill the ground around it if anything. The second one has/will have oregano, thyme, and parsley.

Carrots are already growing in tall pots with soil that's pretty much a 50/50 mix of sand and coir with a bit of sifted compost so their growth isn't inhibited.

I about gave up on potatoes after last year's dismal harvest but someone here mentioned they had had phenomenal results from using just mushroom compost. Then DB said one of his neighbors uses compost and straw and always gets an excellent harvest. In the end I've decided to give it one more try. I've got 4"/10cm of pure mushroom compost in the bottom of 2 grow bags. Placed the spuds on top of that and used a string trimmer to thresh some straw from the end of the winter bale I used in the chickens nest boxes. I mixed the straw bits with an equal amount of mushroom compost and will be topping off as they grow. If this doesn't work, I'm done with them.

Around the fruit trees, I've got

1. some June bearing strawberries
2. Pie pumpkins
3. 2 different mints
4. Chamomile
5. Low growing wildflowers

The everbearing strawberries are over near the blackberries.

The herb beds that was taken by the banana tree was meant for rosemary and sage. An idea is bubbling in me brain for them.

 

[Molpet]

2 grow bags. Placed the spuds on top of that

How many seed potatoes in how big of grow bag?

I was reading 5 to 10 gallon container per seed potato

 

[kattabelly]

How many seed potatoes in how big of grow bag?

I was reading 5 to 10 gallon container per seed potato

When I've grown tatties in containers or old compost/feed bags, I've always used one smallish seed potato per ten litres ( = 3 gallons, rounded up a bit)

 

[jxp]

How many seed potatoes in how big of grow bag?

50 lb dog food bag with drainage holes stabbed in the bottom.

I was reading 5 to 10 gallon container per seed potato

My large containers like that are all black plastic. Not a great idea to my thinking for root veg when the summers regularly stay above 95f/35c for 2-3 months with little rainfall. I can water but that doesn't add humidity to the atmosphere.